THERE will be no uranium mine in Queensland. That was the firm message from Minister for Mines and Natural Resources Anthony Lynham during his visit to Mount Isa.
Mr Lynham toured Mount Isa Mines, listening to concerns and getting to know the North West Mineral Provinces.
But he was strong on the government’s uranium mining ban, and said that even if Labor had a ‘‘pro-uranium mining policy’’ there would still be no mine in Mount Isa or Queensland.
He said he would consider asking the Premier for an exemption in the North West but was adamant it was unlikely.
“The Labor Party has always had a policy of no uranium mining,” he said.
“In the Newman government how many uranium mines were established? None.
“How many jobs were created on the basis of uranium mining? None.
“In the future? None.
“The price is too low and there is not the demand but uranium does come with other minerals and that’s why we have told explorers that if you still want to explore can you explore uranium because it comes with rare earth minerals and those rare earth minerals are valuable.
“We have three per cent of the rare earth deposits in the tailing end of Mary Kathleen mine.
“We put out a tender for miners to reopen Mary Kathleen, not for uranium but for the rare earth.’’
